Weekly News Roundup: 5.15.15

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This week in Education news: eSchoolNews argues for mandatory coding education; EdWeek reports on MOOCs in China; Tech&Learning rounds up summer online learning; and Monica Burns explains how to set up online tutorials.

Parents and educators have been wringing their hands over how and how much to incorporate coding, during school hours and in afterschool enrichment. But the argument is growing that coding needs to be compulsory in schools. By 2020, there will be 1.4 million computing jobs, and only 400,000 computer science students to fill those roles. That’s a major gap to fill. eSchoolNews argues that schools need to work to fill the need.

As the demand for education grows rapidly, China has turned to MOOCs and distance learning to bridge the gaps of access. EdWeek reports that with a massive population, the scale of the rollout of programs dwarfs efforts in the West. As demand continues to grow, residential education won’t be able to keep up, and the Chinese government and private sector will have to collaborate to deliver programs, devices and access nationwide.

It’s tough to extend your support of struggling students beyond the school walls. Our EdTech blogger and Apple Distinguished Educator, Monica Burns, explains how to create and distribute online tutorials to meet students’ education needs no matter where they are.

This time of year often sends parents and guardians into a frenzied search for summertime activities for kids. Tech&Learning has rounded up 10 online summer learning opportunities for grades K-12, with lots of game-based math and reading programs, as well as some offline programs for teaching how to program and build robots or program apps and games.